Golkar rethinks Habibie nomination
JAKARTA (JP): The ruling Golkar Party apparently is reconsidering its recent choice of President B.J. Habibie as its presidential candidate.
Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung and deputy chairman Marzuki Darusman -- who has previously opposed Habibie's nomination -- pointed out on two separate occasions on Sunday and Monday the nomination could be revoked under particular circumstances.
Akbar, in unusually critical remarks, acknowledged on Sunday the public questioned Habibie's commitment to tracing the allegedly ill-gotten wealth of former president Soeharto and his family.
"The issue has been raised by Time magazine, so Habibie could not remain silent," he said as quoted by Antara before thousands of Golkar supporters in Surabaya, East Java.
He charged Habibie did not do his utmost to implement the mandate and decrees of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), especially on the eradication of corrupt, collusive and nepotistic practices.
"In the coming MPR session (planned for November), Golkar will evaluate Habibie's account. If it is good, Golkar will support him well.
"If his account of leadership is rejected, how can we support him?"
Akbar also identified several other issues on which Habibie failed to pay serious attention, including unsolved human rights abuses in the country. He also noted that many Chinese- Indonesians fled the country for fear of unrest before or during the elections.
"This means that President Habibie could not give a sense of security to the community."
He acknowledged, however, Habibie's success on the economic front, such as lowering banking interest rates, keeping inflation down and pushing up the rupiah's exchange rate against the greenback.
"In the political sector, Habibie has issued a number of policies conducive to the development of democratic life, such as giving press freedom, releasing political prisoners and detainees and permitting the establishment of more political parties."
Marzuki suggested on Monday in Jakarta that Habibie's nomination might be reconsidered after the June 7 elections. The new president is due to be chosen in November.
"Golkar's decision to nominate Habibie cannot be annulled, but one must pay attention to the development of politics after the campaign and elections," Darusman told reporters.
"It means that a decision to nominate Habibie is still valid but this will not close the chances of further development."
Asked whether it might include reconsidering Habibie's nomination, he replied: "Yes".
Habibie said on Saturday in an interview with CNN which aired on Monday that he was pushing for a constitutional change which would allow Indonesians to directly elect their president.
"The real democracy, is, I think, the direct election of the president by the people." He termed the current system a two-step process under which the "sovereignty of over 200 million people is being reduced to 700 people".
He blamed his mentor for the system's deficiencies, calling it "a mistake of the former president (Soeharto) in 32 years".
Under the current system, the people vote for the 462 elected members of the 500-seat legislature, whose members then join 200 appointees from the regions and nonpolitical groupings to form the People's Consultative Assembly.
The assembly will in November elect the president for a five- year term.
Meanwhile, in the South Kalimantan capital of Banjarmasin, Abdurrahman Wahid of the National Awakening Party (PKB) said he could forgive Soeharto if he returned his purported billion- dollar fortune to the country.
"PKB will forgive Soeharto if he returns his assets and fortune to the country," Abdurrahman was quoted as saying by Antara during a party function.
In a related development, National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Amien Rais said in Yogyakarta his democratic principles would allow him to accept whoever won the elections and was elected president.
"I am optimistic though that I would have a strong bargaining power (after elections) to be elected president," he said. (23/prb/swe/byg)